Clash of the Warriors - Event Preview

Rumble Time Promotions returns to the Ameristar Casino on Friday with another stacked card featuring several of the area's top professionals. The third trip to the Ameristar this year is also the third MMA event since Rumble Time brought Jim Jenkins on as its Director of MMA Operations.

Friday's card is headlined by undefeated prospect Zach Freeman. Freeman (5-0) has ran through all challengers up until this point, having never left the first round in his young career. The "Altar Boy" will be joined by teammate Josh Sampo at the top of the fight card. The two have fought along side each other as the main/co-main for three events this year including April's Fight Me event at the Family Arena.

"The top three matches on this card: Sampo, Freeman, and (Eric) Irvin represent the best unsigned talent in the area," Jenkins said. "They deserve to be headlining, and I'm happy to be bringing in the competition they need to advance their careers."

Rumble Time has proven their commitment to challenging the local talent by bringing in top-ranked competitors as evident by May's main event that featured Wil Campuzano and Josh Sampo. According to the Fight Matrix ranking system, Campuzano is #15 in the world in the flyweight division.

"Bringing in Campuzano last time and now Derrow," Jenkins said. "Rumble Time has shown it is committed to bringing in the kind of opponents the local talent need to get noticed."

Freeman's opponent on Friday, Aaron Derrow, is currently ranked #107 by Fight Matrix. You can read more about Derrow in our article from yesterday.

Eric Irvin from Destruction MMA will be taking on Charon Spain. Josh Epps and Dan "Johnny Irish" O'Connor are set to do battle. Matt Chinn vs Steve Dittrich and Gary Rhoades vs Damian Jeffro round out the card.

Also competing on Friday is a battle between two of the top amateur bantamweights in the finals of the Gateway to the Top tournament. CMMA's Kenny Neinhaus will be taking on tough wrestler Charles Johnson. Johnson was victorious in June when he took our Richie Fernow to secure his spot on Friday's card. This will be Nienhaus' last fight before moving to Iowa for work.

Friday's card also has bearing on the upcoming Titan Fighting Championship event in September at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park. Some of the winners from Friday will secure spots on the the live televised Titan card and move one step closer to breaking through to the national audience. For more on the Rumble Time and Titan FC deal check out our special announcement from last week.

Rumble Time MMA's Amateur Series will continue on August 10th at the Heart of St. Charles. The Amateur Series will serve as a feeder league to the Ameristar Caisno shows which in turn will place talent on the nationally televised Titan FC shows that will take place three times a year.

Professional Main Card:
Aaron Derrow vs Zach Freeman
Carson Gainey vs Josh Sampo
Charon Spain vs Eric Irvin
Josh Epps vs Dan O'Connor
Matt Chinn vs Steve Dittrich
Gary Rhoades vs Damian Jeffro

Amateur Preliminary Card:
Charles Johnson vs Kenny Nienhaus
Jake Buehler vs Jake Roberts
Thomas Haney vs Matt Helm
Trevor Lanzone vs Justin Lankford

Rumble Time MMA presents Clash of the Warriors
Friday - July 27th
Ameristar Casino - St. Charles, MO

Tickets still available - Call: (314)-884-0MMA